I was having one of those insightful moments a few days ago and it lead me to the thought "I should write a post about that!" So here goes...

It came to my attention that I have had this blog for nearly four years now. Of course, there were periods of time where I seemed to endlessly fail to find the time to write a post but I did my best to write when I could and share some important aspects of my journey and artworks I created.

I had pondered in the beginning what to call my blog - I wanted it to be fun and interesting and of course pertain to what I was going to share - thus the play on words A Path with "Art" was born. It wasn't until recently that this blog name took on a much more profound meaning for me.

At the beginning of October 2012, at a very low point in my life, a shift happened that I have been riding ever since. This low point caused me to become daring and I decided that I wasn't interested in being miserable anymore and I was going to follow my heart. I quit my job and became a full time artist - aaaaahhh! Scary right? Here's the thing, at the moment of my decision everything fell into place. Out of nowhere, a benefactor stepped forward and offered to cover my rent in order for me to focus on painting (pinch me). Luke, my partner of 14 years stepped in with tremendous support, driving me places, making me frames and canvas'. 36 days later I landed a great gallery, the 55 Main Gallery in Bisbee, AZ and 42 days later I had sold 6 paintings! Sometime around the beginning of the new year, the gallery offered me their April featured artist spot. My own show! Which I think at this point I was in shock as to how everything was happening so fast and with such positive force. I became aware of how powerful following a path with heart could be. I learned that when we are doing what we love, the Universe opens up and leads the way. All I had to do was have the daring to take the first step and recognize the opportunities when they were revealed to me.

So now, the cute name I gave my blog, A Path With "Art", now has a more significant meaning for me and I highly recommend that everyone out there follow your heart! It's worth it ♥

Finally completed "Earth Song", a carved and painted gourd done in the style of Pueblo pottery. This piece turned out better than I anticipated and I'm so excited! I took photos of the process so I will share with you here how I did it.

After cleaning the gourd and cutting the top off to create the look of pottery, I drew in the design...

Once I was satisfied with the drawing, I had to determine which parts I wanted to carve out. Once this was decided it took me two days to complete the carving (not all day - 2 hours each day).

I probably spent at this point 2 or 3 days trying to visualize a color scheme. I loved how it was coming along and I didn't want to mess it up with the wrong colors. I finally chose earth tones and painted on the first color...

This was exciting - it was really starting to manifest a personality now...I was going to leave it basically with the natural gourd colors and others that saw it at this stage agreed but then I had a dream that night that…

Back in February I created a Facebook group called the Cochise County Plein Air Painters. My intention was to provide artists and art lovers in our area, along with artists who enjoy painting and exploring in our area, a place to come together and share art, photos, paint out opportunities, pretty much anything related to our beautiful Cochise County and painting outdoors. After inviting those who I thought would appreciate the group, it quickly sprang to life with enthusiasm - paintings and photos of loved locations were shared, and an interest in Portal, Arizona arose. In a very short amount of time a paint
out had been planned and reservations were made for the first weekend of April to paint in Portal!

Located on the extreme eastern edge of Cochise County, only a few miles from the New Mexico border, Port…

My name is Kaia Thomas and I'm a painter living in Southeast Arizona. This blog is a journal showcasing my art and available paintings for purchase, along with the processes I go through in creating the art, and random thoughts on life.
"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." ~ Rumi